Translocation through environments with time dependent mobility

We consider single particle and polymer translocation where the frictional properties experienced from the environment are changing in time. This work is motivated by the interesting frequency responsive behaviour observed when a polymer is passing through a pore with an oscillating width. In order to explain this better we construct general diffusive and non-diffusive frequency response of the gain in translocation time for a single particle in changing environments and look at some specific variations. For two state confinement, where the particle either has constant drift velocity or is stationary, we find exact expressions for both the diffusive and non-diffusive gain. We then apply this approach to polymer translocation under constant forcing through a pore with a sinusoidally varying width. We find good agreement for small polymers at low frequency oscillation with deviations occurring at longer lengths and higher frequencies. Unlike periodic forcing of a single particle at constant mobility, constant forcing with time dependent mobility is amenable to exact solution through manipulation of the Fokker-Planck equation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Rejecting acceptance: learning from public dialogue on self-driving vehicles

Abstract The investment and excitement surrounding self-driving vehicles are huge. We know from earlier transport innovations that technological transitions can reshape lives, livelihoods, and places in profound ways. There is therefore a case for wide democratic debate, but how should this take place? In this paper, we explore the tensions between democratic experiments and technological ones with a focus on policy for nascent self-driving/automated vehicles. We describe a dominant model of public engagement that imagines increased public awareness leading to acceptance and then adoption of the technology. We explore the flaws in this model, particularly in how it treats members of the public as users rather than citizens and the presumption that the technology is well-defined. Analysing two large public dialogue exercises in which we were involved, our conclusion is that public dialogue can contribute to shifting established ideas about both technologies and the public, but that this reframing demands openness on the part of policymakers and other stakeholders. Rather than seeing public dialogues as individual exercises, it would be better to evaluate the governance of emerging technologies in terms of whether it takes place ‘in dialogue’

In Re Soledad: The Bankruptcy Court\u27s Jurisdiction over Funds Earned by Bankrupt When Multiple Government Claimants Assert Sovereign Immunity and a Right to Set-Off

This Comment goes beyond the facts of In Re Soledad and examines the United States Government\u27s assertion of a monolith theory of sovereign immunity giving one agency the power to determine assessments and set-off claims of other executive branch agencies. This Comment argues that this assertion, by which any claim by any governmental agency against the bankrupt would divest the bankruptcy court of jurisdiction, would threaten the administrative structure upon which the bankruptcy court rests. The Comment concludes by examining the 1978 Bankruptcy Act that addresses the issue of sovereign immunity, but leads to some confusion because of congressional comments surrounding the statute

Judicial Choice and Disparities between Measures of Economic Values

An important idea, which characterizes law in society, is a reluctance to move from the status quo. In general, one can argue that legal institutions and legal doctrine are not engaged in the redistribution of wealth from one party to another. This paper explores a possible explanation for that principle. The authors\u27 research suggests that, across a wide range of entitlements and in a variety of contexts, individuals value losses more than foregone gains. The paper argues, as a matter of efficiency, that law and social policy might have developed in a manner consistent with this valuation disparity. Furthermore, this valuation disparity can be transformed into conceptions of fairness, and, as a matter of fairness, legal decisions might have developed in a manner consistent with this fairness norm. In the first part of the paper, the economic and psychological research on the valuation disparity is described in detail. The paper then examines a series of legal doctrines, all of which can be explained by the valuation disparity phenomenon revealed in the experimental data. Cohen and Knetsch conclude that the behaviour of legal institutions and actors can be explained by the valuation disparity

Direct Inversion in Complex Geometries

Progress on the POFFIS high frequency flow imaging method is described. Both theoretical and experimental advances have occurred during the current year. Some success was achieved at imaging an off-axis trailer hitch flaw. However, the issue of variable speed was not completely resolved and research on this issue will continue